MINNESOTA INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS FORUM (MISF) 2020 LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE March 2, 2020

The 2020 Legislative Session has gotten off to a fast start and a lot is at stake! With all 201 legislative seats up for re-election this fall, that means House and Senate majorities are on the line. It also means that this year’s elections will determine control over legislative re-districting in 2021 and for the rest of the decade! Throw this dynamic into the normal mix of a short, “bonding session” – which started Feb. 11 – and things are moving at a fast clip.

For starters, we’ve already had a few surprise legislative retirement announcements which could tip the balance of the majority in the Senate next year. Expect to see a few more unexpected announcements before the end of the session. To see who has already announced that they’re not running for re-election, go to: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/history/retire

Even though we’re only going into our second full week of session, more than a thousand new bills have been introduced (including MISF bills), committee hearings are already going late into the night, and we’ve already had MISF testifying and lobbying legislators for and against bills.

Feeling the crunch of hearing policy bills, legislative policy committee deadlines were recently pushed back. So now, to stay alive for the rest of the legislative session, all policy bills need to be heard and passed out of House and Senate policy committees by March 20 and March 27. The budget bill deadline of April 3, when all budget bills need to be passed out of all appropriate budget committees, is still the same.

Based on the elections and this technically being more of a policy bill session and less emphasis on budget changes, we at Fredrikson & Byron see the end of the legislative session looking like this: passage of a bonding bill, a number of policy bills and maybe (maybe!) a tax bill and small budget bill. The fact that the new revised state budget forecast (out last week) is a bit higher at $1.5 Billion definitely helps MISF with its budget priorities. But there is no guarantee and much more work is needed for MISF to be successful.

For more information on MISF legislative priorities, below is a status update. If you have questions, please let Shep Harris know at [email protected] or 612-492-7849.

MISF Agenda  Nonpublic pupil funding for security expenses (eg; physical improvements, audits, training, etc.).  Nonpublic pupil funding for mental health counseling in elementary grades  Serve as a resource to elected officials involved in E-12 education public and fiscal policy.

Other Areas of Interest to Monitor: o Necessary state funding for nonpublic pupil aid (ie; textbooks, telecom). o Student data privacy/school social media regulation legislation (HF1821/SF2291); o Sexual Abuse Claims Extension legislation; o Mandated disclosure of inappropriate student behavior when transferring schools; o “Shaming” legislation for students unable to pay outstanding school debts; o Alternative fire drills without exiting buildings;

o Public school authority over private school functions (eg; NY action); o Blake transportation liability legislation.

MISF Bill “Watch” Active 1. SF580/HF1231 (Eichorn/Persell) – Non-public pupil counseling aid expanded to grades K-6  MISF Bill  Senate hearing this Wednesday, MISF testifying  Support from the Mn School Counselor Association  Bill will be laid over for possible inclusion in larger budget bill.

2. HF3853/SFXXXX (Pryor/Housley) – Nonpublic school safety grant program for $5 million  MISF Bill  Attempting to get a hearing in the House Education Finance Committee

3. SF3629 (Nelson) – Safe school revenue increase/change  MISF supportive but not testifying  An alternative approach to getting funds to private schools, based on per pupil allocation

4. HF1821/SF2291 (Lucero/Bruce Anderson) - Student Data Privacy  MISF opposes bill, testified against in House Judiciary Committee  Loopholes and inaccuracies would create hardships for private schools and families

Monitoring  HF431/SF389 (Albright/Pratt) - Alternative fire drills for schools and educational institutions requirement.  SF3045/HF1062 (Newman/Gruenhagen) - Criminal sexual conduct behavior in the third and fourth degrees specified in secondary schools.  SF3110 (Jensen) - Vaccine minimum safety standards requirement for any vaccine required to enroll or remain enrolled in an elementary or secondary school.  SF3134/HF3014 (Miller/Drazkowski) - Charter and nonpublic school student participation in resident district extracurricular activities allowed.  SF3200 (Eichorn) - Annual tax holiday period for sales and purchases of school supplies establishment.

 SF3253 (Wiger) - requiring notification of environmental hazards in school buildings.  HF3291 (Poston) - Modifying definition of education expenses for the MN education credit.  HF3790/SF3824 (Swedzinski/Dahms) - K-12 scholarships provided a credit for donations.  SF3814/HF (Mathews) - providing for an exemption from statutory immunization requirements for a sincerely held religious belief.

Call for Action  Contact House and Senate Education Committees (see below) o Ask Rep. Youakim to hear HF1231 before the committee deadlines. o Ask Rep. Davnie to hear HF3853 and include funding for school safety in his omnibus education budget bill. o Ask Sen. Nelson to include funding in her omnibus education budget bill for K-6 private school counseling. o Ask Sen. Nelson to include funding in her omnibus education budget bill for private school safety.  Contact your legislators and ask them to actively support HF1231/SF580 and HF3853/SFXXX by speaking with Reps. Youakim and Davnie and Sen. Nelson.

House Education Policy Committee - 2 -

Rep. (DFL) District: 46B Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL) District: 41B Rep. (R) District: 15A Rep. (R) District: 31B Rep. (R) District: 17B Rep. (R) District: 27A Rep. Robert Bierman (DFL) District: 57A Rep. Michelle (Shelly) Christensen (DFL) District: 39B Rep. (R) District: 18B Rep. (DFL) District: 62A Rep. (DFL) District: 64A Rep. (DFL) District: 57B Rep. (DFL) District: 65B Rep. (DFL) District: 42A Rep. (DFL) District: 53B Rep. (R) District: 35B Rep. (R) District: 18A Rep. (DFL) District: 38B

House Education Finance Committee Rep. (DFL) District: 63A Rep. (DFL) District: 06A Rep. (R) District: 09B Rep. Peggy Bennett (R) District: 27A Rep. Brian Daniels (R) District: 24B Rep. (R) District: 13A Rep. (R) District: 39A Rep. (DFL) District: 49A Rep. Sondra Erickson (R) District: 15A Rep. John Huot (DFL) District: 57B Rep. (R) District: 54B Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (DFL) District: 48B Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL) District: 41B Rep. (DFL) District: 04B Rep. (DFL) District: 03B Rep. (R) District: 08A Rep. (DFL) District: 48A Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL) District: 52B Rep. Steve Sandell (DFL) District: 53B Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL) District: 46B

Senate Education Committee Carla J. Nelson - District 26, R Gary H. Dahms - District 16, R Charles W. Wiger - District 43, DFL Paul T. Anderson - District 44, R Roger C. Chamberlain - District 38, R Gregory D. Clausen - District 57, DFL Steve Cwodzinski - District 48, DFL Justin D. Eichorn - District 05, R Karin Housley - District 39, R John R. Jasinski - District 24, R Susan Kent - District 53, DFL Patricia Torres Ray - District 63, DFL

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